Review: Tommi Bass & B.B.S.C. – Textures From Berlin

After his recent ‘Gamma’ album, Tommi Bass proved that he could still make techno music sound vital and intelligent even as he enters the “veteran” years. His latest release takes a similar bass-heavy and minimalist approach but augments it with sounds from Berlin, the city he now calls home.

Typically, tracks are numbered. ‘Bronze 1’ sets the scene in the familiar unsettling atmospheres featured in ‘Gamma’ but with the added Berlin recordings, they are given further chill factor. ‘Bronze 2’ is based around what sounds like an 80’s arcade game loop and seems to vary little but its click-clack rhythms and air of doom resemble a very sinister version of Kraftwerk. The track segues into ‘Bronze 3’ which includes more frequent punctuations of industrial noise, handclaps, vocal samples and some seriously bowel-shifting beats.

At only eighteen minutes in length, ‘Textures From Berlin’ is too short to really be appreciated. Yet in its limited timespan, its depiction of Berlin is nightmarish, exciting and beguiling all at once.